cycling

A Lima township man has been sentenced to probation and ordered to pay $3,000 in fines for striking and killing an Ann Arbor triathlete with his car. Terry Lee Lacroix pleaded guilty in March to a misdemeanor charge of a moving violation causing death.

Michigan State Police say the 70-year-old Lacroix was trying to pass another vehicle when he hit Karen McKeachie on Dexter-Chelsea road in Washtenaw County in August. McKeachie was a 17-time national champion in triathlon.

Just before noon, a woman rode past with multicolored carnations pinned to her handlebars. She kneeled briefly at the site on N. Westnedge Ave. north of Kalamazoo where on Tuesday nine people were struck, five of them struck dead, four still recovering from injuries. The woman left her flowers and a note, then moved on without speaking.

Many came to the site to pay their respects Wednesday. Many struggled to find the words to describe what had happened here. But they came anyway. The tributes and memorials grew among the lush grass as the day wore on.

Meg Zapalowski was one of a group of bicyclists who prepared "ghost bikes" -- stripped down cycles, painted white, one for each of those who died in Tuesday's tragedy.

"The cycling community in Kalamazoo is not just a community, it's a family," she said. "And that's just how we roll."